VOTER PARTICIPATION HALL OF FAME The "VOTER PARTICIPATION HALL OF FAME" honors persons, organizations, local governments, and businesses making significant and sustained contributions to improving participation in elections. Recipients have gone above and beyond routine efforts to promote voter registration, participation in the election process, or general civic participation. Ron Ross High School Voting Program San Bernardino County March 1997 Mary Silva Pollworker for 65 Years Kings County June 1998 Sister Ethel Mary Tinnemann Voter Registration Outreach Alameda County December 1998 Ethel Irish Coplen Pollworker for 66 Years Orange County December 1998 Bell Gardens High School Student Election Program Los Angeles County December 1998 Shawn Casey O'Brien Unique People's Voting Project Los Angeles County December 1998 Juanita Zarilla, City of Laguna Niguel Outstanding Outreach Efforts Orange County November 2000 Sylvia Levin Registering Voters Since 1973 Los Angeles County November 2000 Kids Voting California Voter Participation and Youth Outreach Santa Clara County November 2000 Mischelle Townsend, Riverside County Innovative Election Technology Riverside County November 2000 SMUD Community Outreach Efforts Sacramento County November 2000 Sandra Creque 37 Years of Dedicated Voter Service Alameda County Elections Department November 2002 Jim Mallory 50 Years of Pollworker Appreciation Efforts Siskiyou County November 2002 Korean American Coalition Community Outreach Efforts Los Angeles County November 2002 Placer County Elections Department High School Voter Education Program Placer County November 2002 NALEO Voter Education and Pollworker Recruitment Los Angeles County November 2002 World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Vote America Outreach Efforts November 2002 Yahoo! Vote America Outreach Efforts - Banner Ads November 2002

Ron Ross
High School Voting Program
San Bernardino County
March 1997

Ron Ross, a government teacher at Redlands High School, has encouraged his students to register to vote and to help in the election process. He piloted a program in which students staff the election night tally center, inspect ballots, move supplies, operate cardreaders, and give out election results. This program has grown to include six area high schools.

Mr. Ross also organized a team of students to design a voting display for the San Bernardino County museum. The display, titled "One Person-One Vote," included a video, historic voting materials, and campaign button collections from other countries. His students also helped hand out voter registration materials to museum visitors.

Mary Silva
Pollworker for 65 Years
Kings County
June 1998

Mary Silva has worked continuously as a pollworker for over 65 years, beginning when she was only 22 years old.

Sister Ethel Mary Tinnemann
Voter Registration Outreach
Alameda County
December 1998

For more than twenty-five years, Sister Ethel Mary Tinnemann, an educator at Holy Names College, has consistently been the backbone of voter registration in Alameda County. She has walked door-to-door in impoverished Oakland neighborhoods and set up tables in front of supermarkets in order to register voters.

Sister Ethel Mary is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from U.C. Berkeley with a Ph.D. in history. She has taught history at Holy Names College since 1960. She has imbued in her students the need to get involved in the community, especially with voter registration. She also teaches special classes on the history of Oakland for new police candidates so that new police officers will have a better knowledge and appreciation of the city in which they work.

Ethel Irish Coplen
Pollworker for 66 Years
Orange County
December 1998

For more than 66 years, Ethel Irish Coplen has been giving her time and talents each election year to work at her polling place. She became involved back in 1932, the year Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated President Hoover.

Over the years, Ms. Coplen has been involved in many different community activities, but she does most of her civic duty manning the polls. She says, "I am dedicated to doing this because I think everybody should vote."

Bell Gardens High School
Student Election Program
Los Angeles County
December 1998

The Bell Gardens High School staff has actively and enthusiastically promoted the school's participation in three voter participation programs: 1) Election Night Volunteers Program; 2) Student Pollworker Program; and 3) In-School Elections Program.

Election Night Volunteers Program: This program, developed by the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters, promotes community involvement in the running of elections. The staff at Bell Gardens High School recruited over 200 high school juniors and seniors to help process ballots on election night.

Student Pollworker Program: Bell Gardens High School seniors have been participating in this program since January 1997. High School teachers nominate seniors to volunteer as poll workers during elections. Students who are nominated must meet the following requirements: they must be U.S. citizens, in good academic standing, and at least 16 years of age.

In-School Elections Progam: This program mirrors local, state, and federal elections. Presentations on in-school elections and opportunities to register for these elections are made to all freshman classes. The in-school elections activities include the use of election rosters and paper ballots. Students even receive "I Voted" stickers when they turn in their ballots.

Shawn Casey O'Brien
Unique People's Voting Project
Los Angeles County
December 1998

The Unique People's Voting Project is an on-going non-partisan voter registration/education project made up of disabled citizens and their families. It has been instrumental in registering 15,000 to 20,000 citizens, many of whom live in the daily realities of developmental or physical disabilities.

Working closely with a number of area boards and self-advocacy groups, the Unique People's Voting Project offers workshops on voter registration and education. Their goal is to give all citizens with disabilities non-partisan educational materials.

Juanita Zarilla, City of Laguna Niguel
Outstanding Outreach Efforts
Orange County
November 2000

Juanita Zarilla, City Clerk of Laguna Niguel, has worked toward increasing voter registration and participation in her city by utilizing various innovative techniques and practices, which have included:

• Enlarging the Secretary of State's outreach posters to be displayed as public bus shelter advertisements throughout the city.
• Utilizing various citywide publications to place reminder notices to city residents.
• Writing editorials for area newspapers about the importance of registering and voting.
• Sending letters to city homeowners reminding them to register to vote prior to the registration deadline.
• Working with various community groups to conduct voter registration at community events.
• Utilizing the city's main switchboard to assist voters in locating their correct polling place on Election Day.

Sylvia Levin
Registering Voters Since 1973
Los Angeles County
November 2000

Sylvia Levin became a deputy registrar with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder's office in 1973. From 1973 through 2000 she has enthusiastically registered an estimated 40,524 people. Ms. Levin coordinates her efforts with the County Registrar of Voters and extends her hours as voter registration deadlines approach. She has set-up her card table and signs at a number of regular locations since 1973 including: Canters Restaurant in the Fairfax district, Century City Shopping Center, the Malibu and Westwood Post Offices, UCLA Bruin Walk, Santa Monica College, and Warner Hollywood Studios.

Kids Voting California
Voter Participation and Youth Outreach
Santa Clara County
November 2000

The mission of Kids Voting California is to promote voter participation and to educate students regarding the voting process. Kids Voting is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to securing democracy for the future by involving youth in the election process today. The program allows kids in grades K-12 to go the polls on election day with an adult and vote a ballot with some of the same issues.

Santa Clara County partnered with Kids Voting California in 1992, and Santa Cruz County joined on in November 2000. The goal of Kids Voting California, according to its director Justin Trinh-Halperin, is to expand into other counties. Having used and improved the program in the two counties, it is now packaged and ready to be used by any county who wants to take advantage of this creative outreach program.

Mischelle Townsend, Riverside County
Innovative Election Technology
Riverside County
November 2000

Touch screen voting made its debut in Riverside County in August of 1999 during a Special Election in the City of San Jacinto. The electronic device, which at the time was being evaluated for countywide use, was used at five polling places throughout the city on Election Day and also for "Early Voting" the week prior at the San Jacinto Public Library.

Riverside County provided touch screen voting to all of its voters during the November 7, 2000 general election making it the first county in the nation to provide touch screen voting county wide for voters during a presidential general election.

SMUD
Community Outreach Efforts
Sacramento County
November 2000

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) printed special election reminder envelopes, which were used to mail bills to customers.

Sandra Creque
37 Years of Dedicated Voter Service
Alameda County Elections Department
November 2002

Sandra Creque, through her work with the Alameda County Registrar of Voters Office, has completed 37 years of distinguished and dedicated service to the voters of Alameda County and the State of California. She has trained hundreds of volunteers to register voters and has assisted thousands of citizens to become registered voters.

Jim Mallory
50 Years of Pollworker Appreciation Efforts
Siskiyou County
November 2002

Jim Mallory has personally shown his appreciation of precinct officers. For the past 50 years, Mr. Mallory has taken donuts, at his own personal expense, to the precinct officers on election day.

Korean American Coalition
Community Outreach Efforts
Los Angeles County
November 2002

The Korean America Coalition (KAC) provided outstanding Voter Education services to the Korean American community.

Placer County Elections Department
High School Voter Education Program
Placer County
November 2002

The Placer County Elections Department implemented the Placer County High School Voter Education Project to confront the apathy found in students. This highly successful Voter Education program brings elected officials, political party representatives, Elections Department employees and voting equipment to the classrooms of high school seniors in order to encourage students to register and vote.

NALEO
Voter Education and Pollworker Recruitment
Los Angeles County
November 2002

Through programs, such as Voces del Pueblo, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) promoted full Latino electoral participation through voter education, mobilization, and advocacy.

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
Vote America Outreach Efforts
November 2002

The World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. partnered with Vote America on a high school voter registration campaign in May 2002. They also provided collateral materials for use at Vote America events.

Yahoo!
Vote America Outreach Efforts - Banner Ads
November 2002

As a Vote America partner, Yahoo! provided banner ad space, which resulted in approximately 20 million impressions. Yahoo! also ran Vote America public service announcements on Yahoo! Radio and Yahoo! Broadcast.

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